Jaguars jump Heritage for third place

Cedar Shoals Boys 78, Heritage 60

WINDER - Cedar Shoals didn't like the way Friday night ended in an upset.

So the Jaguars jumped on top of Heritage early and rolled to a 78-60 win in the third-place game of the Region 8-AAAA tournament on Saturday at Winder-Barrow High School.

"We felt like we needed to redeem ourselves after last night," Cedar Shoals senior Tray Briscoe said. "We didn't come out our hardest last night. We came out lazy and it ended up biting us. We didn't want that to happen tonight. We needed to come back and play Cedar Shoals basketball."

Cedar Shoals (19-8) advances to the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs to face the second-place team coming out of Region 6-AAAA next week.

On Friday, the Jaguars lost to Salem 49-44 - a team they had already beaten three times this season - to fall into the consolation bracket.

"They were disappointed after last night because they knew they blew a great opportunity to compete for a regional title," Cedar Shoals coach Dreco Thomas said. "I could tell that they were upset and they just came out and played the way we're supposed to play. They were unselfish. They were talking on defense. They were doing all the things that we want to do to win, but it was a day late."

A.J. Davenport scored a game-high 16 points for Cedar Shoals. Carl Clemons and Briscoe each added 15 points while Dontai Robinson chipped in 12. The Jaguars all but buried Heritage in the first half by outshooting the Patriots 51.5 percent to 28 percent.

"We knew we needed to get out early because sometimes if we start slow, it doesn't turn around in the second half," Clemons said. "We had to get on top of them early because our confidence was down after the way we played yesterday."

Cedar shoals hit 17 of 33 from the field, including 4 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half. Clemons scored 10 points and Robinson added nine points, primarily on layups, as Cedar Shoals worked over the Patriots inside.

On the other end of the floor, Heritage's offense stumbled to a 7 of 25 shooting performance in the first half, not to mention nine turnovers as Cedar Shoals took a 40-16 lead.

Heritage (17-12) was led by Montez Hall with 14 points, Jelani Archer with 11 and Twon Wade with 10 points.